This self-portrait of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows effects of wind events that had cleaned much of the accumulated dust off the rover's solar panels. It combines multiple frames taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) through three different color filters March 22 through March 24, 2014, the 3,611th through 3,613th Martian days, or sols, of Opportunity's work on Mars.
This image is presented in false color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible, and as a vertical projection. The mast on which the Pancam is mounted does not appear in the image, though its shadow does. A version of this self-portrait in approximately true color is online at PIA18079 and http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .
With the cleaner arrays and lengthening winter days, Opportunity's solar arrays are generating more than 620 watt-hours per day in mid-April 2014, compared to less than 375 watt-hours per day in January 2014.
Photojournal Note : Also available is the full resolution TIFF file PIA18080_lg.tif . This file may be too large to view from a browser; it can be downloaded onto your desktop by right-clicking on the previous link and viewed with image viewing software.
JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .
Name | Value | Additional Values |
---|---|---|
Target | Mars | |
System | ||
Target Type | Planet | |
Mission | Mars Exploration Rover (MER) | |
Instrument Host | Opportunity (MER-B) | Spirit (MER-A) |
Host Type | Rover | |
Instrument | Panoramic Camera (Pancam) | |
Detector | ||
Extra Keywords | Color, Dust, Shadow | |
Acquisition Date | ||
Release Date | 2014-04-17 | |
Date in Caption | 2014-03-24 | |
Image Credit | NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ. | |
Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18080 | |
Identifier | PIA18080 |